1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an evaporative room humidifier. More particularly, it relates to the type of non-powered room evaporative humidifiers that are adapted to be used with the blowing air from a standard furnace wall or floor register or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
The general idea of having a humidifier used in conjunction with a source of blowing air, like from a home furnace register, is well known and has been utilized since at least the early 1960's. In general, these devices are placed at the furnace, as a replacement for the register, or collect air from the register by sitting on/by the register and letting the register air, especially warm air, circulate through or past a series of rigid evaporator plates dipped in a water tank. This style of humidifier utilizes a series of fixed rigid plate-type evaporators locked into place so that the air can pass by the plate and pick up moisture before being expelled into the room.
These type of humidifies work without power of any kind, making them popular and attractive as a low cost method of humidifying air, especially compared to electric powered devices. However, it is also well known that these types of devices are very poor at adding humidity to the air, regardless of the water tank size utilized with them. In addition, there is a series of problems with using evaporator plates as the wicking medium. Evaporator plates are rigid and not very absorptive (usually made of cellulosic fiber or fiberglass, etc.), slowing the wicking action and, thus, reducing the amount of water that is delivered to the air. They have a relatively low surface area, they clog quickly and are unclean-able, thus leading to the need for frequent replacement and rapidly decreasing efficiency of such devices utilizing evaporator plates over relatively short periods of time. Evaporator plates need to remain flat to be installed in most of these types of humidifiers, such that while they are rigid even a small amount of warping or damage to the edges renders them unusable. Finding a system which overcomes the difficulties with forced air humidifiers would be of great value.